World number one Novak Djokovic received a bye to the second round of the Cincinnati Masters where he made light work of Sam Querrey in straight sets.

The reigning Cincinnati champion has faced Roger Federer in four finals at this event, winning just the once, but he can face his Wimbledon 2019 final opponent in the semi-final this year.

The Serb has faced Pablo Carreno Busta twice before, and both in the same round at the same tournament, with two round of 16 wins over the Spaniard at Monte-Carlo.

PABLO CARRENO BUSTA

Pablo Carreno Busta did fantastically well to beat John Isner on a US hard court in three sets and also came through the qualifiers all the way to a third-round meeting with Novak Djokovic.

The 28-year-old has hard-court pedigree after an emphatic run to the semi-finals of the US Open back in 2017 where he lost to the eventual runner-up Kevin Anderson in four sets.

Carreno Busta also had a good run at the Australian Open this year before losing in five sets to Kei Nishikori in the round of 16 and he has previously taken a set from Novak Djokovic in one of his two losses to the Serb.

THE PREDICTION

Reigning Cincinnati champion Novak Djokovic has a tricky customer on his hands in Pablo Carreno Busta for this third-round match, with the Spaniard an excellent hard-court competitor capable of putting deep tournament runs together. However, Carreno Busta faces the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion here and the gulf in ability will become apparent from the off. The Serb can see this challenge off in two sets.

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